Sea Turtles and Friends, Mate

The Sea Turtle
Did you know that there are sea turtles living in almost every ocean basin on Earth? They live their entire lives at sea, except when the females come ashore to lay their eggs. Sea turtles have survived on Earth for 100 million years. Dinosaurs became extinct 65 million years ago, just in case you needed some perspective.

Sea Turtles often mistake plastic bags and other plastic particles as jellyfish. Their stomachs cannot digest the plastic so many die from clogged digestive tracks. Constipated by plastic isn’t a fun way to go, so switching to reusable canvas shopping bags is an easy and inexpensive way to keep plastic bags from ending up in our oceans. Most grocery stores give discounts for each reusable bag you use.

The African Spurred TortoiseThe African Spurred Tortoise lives in the deserts of northern Africa. These herbivores survive on small plants and grasses. This species of tortoise is extremely hostile toward each other, especially during the mating season. After the females lay their eggs, it takes eight months for them to hatch. Like most humans, the African Spurred Tortoise can become very obese is it is overfed. Guess they’re not so different from humans after all.

Though they aren’t cuddly and they are the largest tortoise on the African continent, they are endangered due to habitat loss and hunting.

The Galapagos Tortoise
The slow-moving Galapagos Tortoise loves to spend its mornings sunbathing. Like all tortoises, the Galapagos Tortoise conserves energy to maintain its body temperature due to a slow-burning metabolism. In order to win the rights to breed with a female, the males can be very mean toward one another.

These tortoises have been known to live up to 100 years in the wild, while some have lived up to 150 in captivity. Many of the eggs that the females lay are eaten by predators while others are eaten after they emerge from their sandy nest. Habitat loss due to farming has also made their number lesson greatly. The Galapagos Tortoise is listed as vulnerable, with about 15000 remaining.

If you would like to help these ancient creatures check out the website for the World Wildlife Fund. The WWF works around the world the fight the effects of climate change as well as helps conserve animals and their habitats.

A couple of these drawings are available on my Etsy page. I donate $5 from the sale of each drawing from my animal drawing series to the WWF. If you venture to my Etsy page, be sure to check it out.